Texas

[Cockle-Dood]

is there anything i can put on a surface to discourage roosting? i have added more roosts to their coop and im still trying to break their habits.

 

[showbarnmom]

Don't you just love SS's, mine is my favorite & the friendliest too

I can't wait for mine to fill out like yours! Mines a spaz lol she's the first to run up fr any reason.

 

[txnative]

is there anything i can put on a surface to discourage roosting? i have added more roosts to their coop and im still trying to break their habits.

I'm not sure how sensitive chicken feet are, but this might work - it does for dogs. We take a strip of that stuff you put on the floor under your office chair, turn it so the bumps are facing out, and tape it to the door where the dog puts its feet. The spiky bumps are uncomfortable to dog feet, so they quit pawing the door to come in.

 

[Cockle-Dood]

I'm not sure how sensitive chicken feet are, but this might work - it does for dogs. We take a strip of that stuff you put on the floor under your office chair, turn it so the bumps are facing out, and tape it to the door where the dog puts its feet. The spiky bumps are uncomfortable to dog feet, so they quit pawing the door to come in.

your talking about those clear plasttic mats, right?

 

[PSJ]

is there anything i can put on a surface to discourage roosting? i have added more roosts to their coop and im still trying to break their habits.

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Where is it they are roosting and shouldn't be? It may just take some time of physically picking them up and moving them from where they shouldn't be, to where they should be.

 

[Cockle-Dood]

I have some Milk crates im using as nesting boxes and have them mounted on the wall of the coup. they prefer to sleep on top of the crate...even though i did catch a roo sleeping inside one the other nite. I have been going out nightly for the last 3 days and physically putting them on the roosts. It just seems they are still prefering to pile on top of one another to fit on top of the milk crates...

 

[PSJ]

I have some Milk crates im using as nesting boxes and have them mounted on the wall of the coup. they prefer to sleep on top of the crate...even though i did catch a roo sleeping inside one the other nite. I have been going out nightly for the last 3 days and physically putting them on the roosts. It just seems they are still prefering to pile on top of one another to fit on top of the milk crates...

I use milk crates also and had that problem too. Mine got the hint after a while of moving them. But, yours may not. I didn't notice, but whoever said that about the plastic floor cover may have a point. I doubt they would like that texture. You could use the clear plastic floor mats for a car too. Not sure which is cheaper, but floor mats are probably easier to get. You could also put a slanted piece of wood on top of the crates so that there is no flat surface to roost on. Also, are your roosts higher than your nest boxes?

 

[Chucklecluck]

take a board or some card place it on top I of the crate and prop against the wall to create am angle may be cheaper than the mats but I do like that idea

I have some Milk crates im using as nesting boxes and have them mounted on the wall of the coup. they prefer to sleep on top of the crate...even though i did catch a roo sleeping inside one the other nite. I have been going out nightly for the last 3 days and physically putting them on the roosts. It just seems they are still prefering to pile on top of one another to fit on top of the milk crates...

 

[bnjrob]

take a board or some card place it on top I of the crate and prop against the wall to create am angle may be cheaper than the mats but I do like that idea

I think this is a better idea than the floor mats. Dogs have softer flesh and bigger surface area to their feet, so they will usually avoid the pointy surface. But chickens have smaller surface area/different shaped feet than dogs, that can easily get in between the plastic points, which would negate the purpose of the pointy plastic.

 

[Cockle-Dood]

some roosts are higher, and some are lower. i have a ladder looking tyle roost set up that goes from the floor to about 3 ft high. then about 4ft off the ground i have a long tree branch mounted.